Notre-Dame rings changes on ways to keep historical monuments safe
China DailyGeneral view of the nave a clergy members leave after the inaugural Mass, with the consecration of the high altar, at the Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral, five-and-a-half years after a fire ravaged the Gothic masterpiece, as part of ceremonies to mark the Cathedral's reopening after its restoration, in Paris, France, December 8, 2024. The bells of the northern bell tower of Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral chimed on Sunday, signaling completion of the major restoration work and reopening of the cathedral to the public, five years and eight months after a sudden fire destroyed the cathedral's spire and shocked the world on April 15, 2019. Design company Art Graphique & Patrimoine, which had made detailed digital scans of most of the cathedral's interiors before the fire, collaborated with Autodesk to rescan the site to understand what the fire had changed. In recent years, many museums, such as China's Silk Road Online Museum that opened in June 2021, have used digital modeling and virtual tours.